It's called "having a job" and "having a life," Dave. Countercolumn isn't a public utility, and I'm not exactly rocking on selling ad space. A couple of years ago I was willing to devote more time to Countercolumn.

Now I'm spending some more time flatpicking fiddle tunes and overall, happier.

Plus, the guy next door with the unsecured WiFi connection moved away, the inconsiderate jerk. So I can't blog from home at the moment, and I don't do much blogging from work.

As for Maliki, he's the Prime Minister in his own country, and a democratically elected leader of his people. His orders do carry some weight, and should.

We could have said "to hell with you, we're going to find our man," and maybe we would have, except that he may have vanished voluntarily to marry an Iraqi. There's a lot that goes into that decision. I'm not criticising the decision either acquiesce to Maliki's wishes, nor would I be critical if the decision were made to say 'no.'

I can imagine reasons to go either way.

I'm also not obsessing over the inside baseball of Iraqi politics, and except where there is an operational angle, never have.

There was a time I wrote more generally about the different layers of Iraqi insurgents, back in 2003 and 2004, but that was when their differences were not well understood. Now that the focus of the insurgency has turned to IZ on IZ sectarian terrorism, those distinctions are much better understood, so I don't need to bother.

But geez...do you really attach significance to what I DON'T write about?

If I don't write about something, it's silly to assume that that's because I just don't think it's important. Think of me as a columnist, not a newspaper editor.

I wasn't asking for a treatise, Jason. You want to spend two days giggling about what a dumbshit thing John Kerry said, fine. It was stupid and tone deaf and deserves ridicule.

We all are busy. And yet we all find the time to have our say. It's your site. Make it sing to whatever political tune you wish.

But my question wasn't about politics. Frankly, I don't give a particular shit about the realpolitik of the matter in Iraq. Yes, it's the prime minister's country and he can make the rules he has the political clout -- or Al-Sadr's approval - to do. That's fine. Whether the soldier in question was kidnapped or is grabbing an in-country honeymoon, the fact he wears a U.S. uniform makes him a pretty hot target.

But a soldier is missing in hostile territory and we were looking for him. Now we've been told to shoo, get away, you're making Al-Sadr cranky.

Given your frequent eloquent defense of the GI, I thought you might have something to say. I was wrong.

Easy now Dave. I agree with you on the whole, however, have you heard a confirmed report that this Soldier hasn't in fact run off with some Iraqi lady-friend? I think we need to consider the possibility that his whereabouts have been confirmed to some extent, or his status has been declared AWOL.

No one is ever left behind, which makes me think that some progress has been made to the point where conceding to Maliki was an acceptable move.

Hey Dave. Jason hasn't said shit about the Detroit Tigers' collapse, George Steinbrenner's fainting at a school play, or the great news that read wine is good at reducing obesity and encouraging longetivity.

How long were you going to keep those facts from us Jason, you control freak sonovabitch?

Get after 'em Dave. While he's commented twice about Kerry, I bet he hasn't mentionedd economic developments in Kuala Lumpur lately either, strictly out of his own right wing parochialism. Nor have we heard any commentary from Jason on recent developments in string theory, or in breakthroughs relating to black holes and teleportation of solid objects. It's sickening, really, that he could call himself a blogger and not comment on this other stuff. I, for one, and not amused.

Dave, I demand that you discuss the issue of whether or not Frigates are too powerful at 1/4 MC. It's a very important issue and your continued silence on this topic only proves that you know your position on it is indefensible!

Well, the New York Times discussed the Detroit Tiger's collapse, already. Except they referred to them as the Detroit Lions. But we're all in flyover country.

When I commented last night, the latest I had read was we thought the guy had run off with an Iraqi woman. The guy's an Iraqi himself, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility.

In Dave's defense, according to CNN, both accounts may be true - this soldier apparently IS married to an Iraqi woman, but disappeared and our best guess is that he's with his kidnappers, still.

Hard to say. And impossible to say without knowing what concessions we got from Maliki regarding allocating Iraqi resources to the search. There's a lot that plays behind the scenes, and I'm not in a position to comment or criticize it.

Well, guys, loyalty to friends - or at least web hosts - is a beautiful thing. But we're not talking about the Tigers, frigates, or, God forbid, George Steinbrenner.

The subject is Spc. Kousay Altaie, a 41-year-old Iraqi-born American citizen who joined the Army Reserve, got mobilized and has been in Iraq since November 2005.

According to Defense Link, he was last seen inside Baghdad's International Zone at about 2:30 p.m. Oct. 23. Shortly later, left the Zone to visit family members, including his Iraqi wife.

Three cars pulled up, armed men pulled him out of the house, handcuffed him and forced him into a vehicle and drove away.

An aggressive search by US forces in Sadr City where his family lived came to a sudden halt when Iraq's prime minister told the Americans to take down their checkpoints and leave. They were upsetting everyone upset, apparently.

Jason says he's been busy. I appreciate that. Certainly getting all the facts is a good idea, though that's never stopped any of us from expressing an opinion.

As for things being in play, sure. Yes, the Army is still looking for him. But not in Sadr City where they believe the kidnappers took him. And pardon me if I don't take great comfort in learning today thatIraqi police will help in the search. They did a bang-up job on the other two GIs kidnapped by insurgents. Remember, the ones they find mutilated.

Sorry to interrupt your conversation. Where were you, oh, yeah...Kerry sucks and the media don't care about the military. Carry on.